Combination wheel chair and stretcher



June 22, 1943. J. COSTA EFAL COMBINATION WHEEL CHAIR AND STRETCHER FiledNov. 29, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 l NV ENTOR Jibanbia Costco c rqel Fer/ er'e Costa WITNESSES m M m M M/ J. COSTA EI 'AL 2,322,683 COMBINATIONWHEEL CHAIR AND STRETCHER Filed Nov. 29, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 22,1943.

June 22, 1943. J, COSTA ETAL COMBINATION WHEEL CHAIR AND STRETCHER FiledNov. 29. 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 7 HM w w fl w\ J 5 m 1 7 2 w W1 Ll. m 7

a ll] H 2 m m 9 ,1. -2.-- I z I la, llllll w fi w 6 fi 3 1 9 INVENTORJaaniia aasza C 98 e H r N m R r m A d J. cosTA ETAL 2,322,683COMBINATION WHEEL CHAIR AND STRETCHER Filed Nov. 29, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet4 INVENTOR JZza/u'ZZZ 0051a M Mm 7% ATTORNEYS Patented June 22, 1943COMBINATION WHEEL CHAIR AND STRETCHE Juanita Costa and Ferrere Costa,New York, N. Y. Application November 29, 1940, Serial No. 367,788

4 Claims. (Cl. 155-30) This invention relates to a combination wheelchair and stretcher and has for its purpose the provision of a wheelchair which may at the same time be used as a stretcher and which may beraised and lowered. Many patients in ho pitals are well enough to sit ina wheel chair nd to move themselves from place to place in the chair,but are too ill to move from the bed to the chair. As a result, theymust either stay in bed or be carried from the bed to the chair.Practically in all cases patients are more or less helpless; thecarrying of the patient is not only astrain upon the nurse but isexceedingly danserous, and patients risk being dropped or injured whilebeing transferredfrom the bed to the chair.

The purpose of. this invention is to provide a chair with adjustableback and leg portions, which may be flattened into a rolling stretcherand which may be raised to a level with the bed, so that a patient maybe moved from the bed to the chair in a prone position with the greatestamount of comfort and safety to the patient.

A further object is to provide a control mechanism whereby the chair maybe raised or lowered and the respective leg and back members adjusted toany desired angle where they will remain in position without the use oflocks.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as thedescription-proceeds.

Referring to the accompanying drawings- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of achair in the stretcher position, while the dotted lines show thestretcher in the raised position;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of our chair in the chair position;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of our device taken in the direction of the arrows33 of Fig. 4 showing the operating mechanism for raising and loweringthe chair and the leg and back rest members;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the raising mechanism shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a detailed view'of the raising mechanism;

Fig. 'l is a plan view of the raising mechanism;

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 3;

P18. 9 is a detailed view of the clutch control handles;

Fig. 10 is an end view of the handle;

Fig. 11 is a view of the handle on the line |I--|| of Fig. 10.

Referring more particularly to the chair l5, it

will be noted that the chair resembles the usual --wheel chair having aseat It, a back seat l1, leg

rest ll, foot rest l9, arms 20. the usual wheel 2|, and a frame 22carrying a caster 23. I

As will be seen from the various illustrations, the back rest I1 and theleg rest It are hinged to the seat member IS. The seat member I6 ismounted upon the plate or frame 24 which engages the end of screw 25 andis stabilized by the rods 25, 21 and 28, which rods ar slidably mountedwithin the tubes 29,30 and 3|. The screw 25 is mounted in the usualfemale manner positioned on the arms 32 of the frame 22, and itwill beapparent that as the screw is rotated the body portion 35 of the chairwill be raised or lowered depending upon the rotation of the screw 25.The screw 25 carries a helical gear 35 which engages a helical gear 40on the sleeve 4|, which sleeve is freely mounted on the shaft 42. Teeth43 on the end of the sleeve 4| are adapted to engage similar teeth 44 ona clutch member 45. The clutch member 45 is keyed to the shaft 42 bymeans of a key 45 and a key slot 41. The clutch member 45 will thereforeslide upon the shaft 42 laterally but is keyed to rotate with the shaft.The sleeve is held in its proper positicn by the retaining ring 65.

The clutch member 45 is provided with an annular groove 48 in which thefingers 49 of the clamp 50 ride. The clamp 5|! is positioned on theoperating rod 5| which extends and is fulcrumed to the rod 52. Operatinghandles 53 are placed on either end of the rod 52 so that it may beoperated on elther side. The handles 53 are pivotally mounted on theends of the rod 52 and have a finger 54 adapted to engage positioningholes 55 in the plate 55. A rod 51 extends from the bottom oftheoperating handle 53 to the arm 58 pivoted at its center 59 .to thesupport 6|! mounted on the rod 32. It will be seen that by pulling backthe operating handle 53 the finger 54 will be disengaged from the holes55 in the plate 55 on both sides of the chair and the handle may beturned to slide the clutch member 45 so that the teeth 43 engage theteeth 44 on the sleeve 4|, and when the shaft 42 is rotated the screw 25will be likewise rotated and the body of the chair raised or lowered. Byinserting the finger 54 in the second hole 55 shown in Fig-10, theclutch may be held in engagement.

The shaft 42 is provided with another helical gear 10 which in turnengages a similar gear 1| on the shaft I2. Mounted in the hanger 13 ateither end of the shaft 12 are universal joints 14 and 15 which connectthe shaft 12 with the shafts I6 and 11 mounted in the hanger I and I9.The shafts 16 and I1 have hand wheels 80 and BI extending on either sideof the chair so that the operation of these hand wheels will cause theshaft I2 to rotate and through the helical gears power will betransmitted to the shaft 42.

At the foot end of the chair a shaft 90 is mounted in the hangers 9|.The shaft 90 has arms 92 and 93 fixed at either end. The arm 93 has afinger 94 engaging the bracket95 on the foot rest portion I8 andslidably mounted therein. The arm 92 similarly engages the bracket 95,and it will be seen that by rotation of the shaft 90 the position of thefoot rest member with relation to the seat member may be controlled.Mounted on the center of the shaft 90 and fixed thereto is a gear 91which engages the worm 98 mounted on the sleeve 99. which sleeve isloosely mounted on the end of the shaft 421.

A clutch member I00, similar to the clutch member 45 in all respects, isslidably keyed to the shaft 42 and is controlled by the rod IOI whichruns to the operating rod I02 and is operated in the same manner as therod 52. A similar shaft H0 is mounted at the back rest end of the seatmember in the hangers III and M2. Mounted at either end of the rod IIOare the arms II 3 and H4 engaging the brackets H5 and HE. A gear I" isfixedly mounted on the shaft H0 and engages a worm II8 mounted on thesleeve Son the shaft 42. A clutch member I keyed tothe shaft 42 andoperated by the arm I2I is adapted to engage the clutch member on thesleeve H9 in the same manner as the clutch member 45 is operated.Handles I22 are on the ends of the rod I02 and handles I23 are on theends of the rod I2I.

In the normal use of the chair all of the clutches are disengaged andthe position of the head and foot rest will be held due to the wormgears used. The clutches will be held in their disengaged positions dueto the fixing of the operating handles 53, I22 and I23 by means of thefingers 54 in the openings 55. When it is desired to raise the footrest, one of the handles I22 is operated to engage the clutch memberI00. The hand wheel is then turned in either direction to vary theposition and the clutch member I00 is disengaged. It will be appreciatedthat the operator may engage one of the clutches or all of them at thesame time depending upon the desired manipulation of the chair. If, forinstance, she wishes to turn the chair into a stretcher and at the sametime raise it to the level of the bed, she may use all operating handlesdisengaging each as the particular part controlled thereby reaches thedesired position. In lowering the stretcher and returning it to thechair position,

all of the handles may be used at one time, or,

if it is desired, the chair may first be lowered and then moved into thechair position gradually.

Various modifications and additions may be made in our structure withoutvarying from the conceptive idea. It will be appreciated also thatbearings, such as the thrust bearing I25 on the screw 25, I25 on theshaft 42, and I2! and I28 on the shaft 12, will all assist in the easyoperation of our device. The usual hand rails may be added to the wheels2| of the chair and various modifications may be made for particularuses. For spring purposes a sleeve I30 may be mounted on the frame 22with a spring member III engaging the axle I32 so that the chair willride easily. It will be appreciated of course that the axle will beplaced so that the center of gravity is behind the axle in about theposition of the screw 25.

We claim:

1. In a chair having a frame, back and leg rest members hinged to a seatmember, means for selectively or simultaneously varying the anglebetween said leg rest, back and seat members and for raising said seatmember, said means comprising a central shaft, means for rotating saidshaft, gear means engaging said back member, leg rest member and seatmember, corresponding gear means loosely mounted on said shaft andclutch members controlling each of said corresponding gear members,whereby one or all of said gear members may be connected to said centralshaft at any time.

2. In a chair having a frame, back and leg rest members hinged to a seatmember, a shaft mounted centrally of said frame, means on said seatmember operatively connected with said shaft to raise and lower saidseat member, means on said leg rest and back members operativelyconnected with said shaft to vary the angle between said back and legrest members with relation to said seat member, means to operate saidshaft, and means to selectivelyengage or disengage each of saidoperatively connected means with said shaft to move any one of saidseat, back, or leg rest members independently or simultaneously.

3. In a combination wheel chair and stretcher, a wheeled frame, a seatmember mounted on the frame so that it may be raised and lowered, backand leg members movable with respect to the seat member to change theirrelation to the latter, a rotary shaft on the frame, means to operatethe shaft, means responsive to the rotation of said shaft to raise andlower said seat member, means responsive to rotation of said shaft tomove the back member to change its relation to the seat member, andmeans responsive to the rotation of said shaft to move the leg member tochange its relation to the seat member.

4. In a combination wheel chair and stretcher as set forth in claim 3,wherein the second, third and fourth means each includes a clutch inorder that the respective means function independently of the others forthe intended purpose, and means to operate the clutch.

- JUANITA COSTA.

FERRERE COSTA.

